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Ivory Jiwari II

This upper jiwari has also been made out of the same piece of billard ball about 9 years ago.
Although this ivory is rather smooth, I have the impression that this jiwari sound lasts much longer than staghorn.

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Ivory Jiwari II — 5 Comments

The intonation problems can be solved with this kind of bridge, just as like the Feiten system does. This is nothing new, although they reclame a patent ?? The only thing you have to do is check out the needed length of your strings, and make a small block to extend the tar daan and thus shorten the string length. Take a look here…

#1) I’m quite sure you noticed that (on sitars) the targahan curvature is different from the frets’ curvature… then, the bridge profile is STRAIGHT (if one considers the same plane of the previous two): why ?

#2) I play 24-pardas sitars and am willing to read everything interesting on the so-called Acchal-That sitars: PLEASE !!!

I’m interested on fretting the low strings & kharaj is always more of a problem than the other: Always thought the Banerjee small jivari next to targahan was the answer but don’t know how it works (also heard of the Feiten tuning for guitars, which seems to be a close relative). What’s the sci-side behind this, could you shed some light?

Alvin, you have seen and noticed this correctly. This kind of construction is introduced and mainly used at the Pathak garana (cfr. late Balaram Pathak). And maybe they have seen this on a Nikhil Banerjee sitar before…?? Ashok Pathak, who is living in Holland and teaching sitar in Holland and Belgium claims that this bridge helps determinating the original “Pathak garana” sound. The jiwaris on their sitars are always very closed, which gives them a warm and solid sound. This extra upper jiwari covering all of the main strings accentuates this tone colour.
Yet, this is a point of discussion. I personally am not completely convinced of this. I agree that, as long as one only plays open strings this jiwari will for sure have its effect on the string and contributes to the overall sound of the sitar but as soon as one plays a note (push the string to a parda) then the effect of this extra jiwari will be almost (or practically completely) gone.

The “silver metal fittings” on the cikaris are ordinary fine tuners. They are actually made for being attached to the strings of a violin but are a simple, cheap and very effective help for fine tuning the cikari strings or also any other kind of strings on the sitar. I’ve seen them also on the laraj kharaj…

The ivory seems to be very effective too !!! Very much resistance to wear !!

May I ask what is the purpose of this upper jiwari? I have seen the so called “tone block” fitted under the 4th string (low Sa) on karaj pancham sitars. This is to correct the intonation problem with that particular string. But in this photo, it appears that all four of the main strings are in contact with the upper jiwari, something I’ve not seen before. Also, what are the silver metal fittings that look like screws and appear to be attached to the 5th and 6th (chikari) strings? The use of an old billiard ball as a source of ivory is inspired!!